The UK’s creative industries are continuing to grow in the Japanese market, statistics reveal.

From Beauty and the Beast and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them topping the Japanese box office, to music releases from UK exports Adele and Ed Sheeran flying high, the love affair that the Japanese have for the UK’s creative industries shows no sign of letting up.

As the UK welcomes Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week, the government has praised the work that our thriving creative industries sectors produce, making it such a positive global export.

Across film, music and video games the UK and Japan share a huge common interest. In 2016 Japan accounted for £325 million of the UK creative industry service exports, up from £226 million in 2015. These are any services that are exported including advertising and marketing.

Creative Industry export goods, which includes things like handbags, printed books, paintings and sculptures, to Japan in 2016 were also worth £155 million, which was up from £146 million the year before.

Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries Margot James said:

The UK’s creative and cultural output is one of our biggest exports and the Japanese market continues to love what we have to offer.

From seeing our latest blockbusters on screen, to listening to rip roaring live music acts and playing our latest video games – it’s clear that creative industries love affair between Japan and the UK continues.

And that affection is shown in the UK too, with over £100 million of creative industry goods imported into our shores every year. I look forward to seeing this partnership continue to grow for many years to come.

In 2017 the box office take for UK films shown in Japan was $424.3 million. Two British films Beauty and the Beast and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them topped the charts with 9.5 million and 5.6 million admissions respectively.

Japan’s love of UK music continues to be a success with UK labels earning an estimated £18.5 million from Japan in 2017. It was 5th largest marker in terms of UK revenues behind the USA, Germany, France and Australia. The biggest selling album by a British act was Divide by Ed Sheeran.

The UK’s video games industry also has strong links with Japan with UK benefitting from major investment by leading companies including SEGA and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The UK game Overcooked 2 developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17 in Wakefield is also proving popular in Japan as it was voted the most recommended game by Nintendo Switch players last August.

More intelligent systems will help power the UK’s transition to a clean and affordable energy system – a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

More intelligent systems will help power the UK’s transition to a clean and affordable energy system – a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

Households and businesses installing new solar panels will be guaranteed payment for power provided back to the grid under government proposals set out today (Tuesday 8 January) to unlock the smart energy systems of the future- an important upgrade to the current Feed-in Tariffs scheme.

The proposed ‘Smart Export Guarantee’ (SEG) would replace the existing ‘Feed-in Tariff’ scheme (FIT), with electricity suppliers paying new small-scale energy producers for excess electricity from homes and businesses being put back into the energy grid. The new scheme could create a whole new market, encouraging suppliers to competitively bid for this electricity, giving exporters the best market price while providing the local grid with more clean, green energy, unlocking greater choice and control for solar households over buying and selling their electricity.

With the cost of solar falling by 80% since 2008, it’s the right time to review the way these payments are made- with the scheme currently costing consumers approximately £1.2 billion a year. The SEG would mean households and businesses installing new renewable energy generators would be paid transparently for the energy they produce- protecting consumers from cost burdens, by using established smart technology.

Currently under the FIT scheme, accredited households and businesses who install small scale electricity generation are assumed to export 50% of the electricity they produce and are paid for it-even when the electricity is not needed by the grid or they export less than 50%.

Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry said:

This new scheme could help us to build a bridge to the smart energy system of the future, with consumers firmly at its heart – not only buying electricity but being guaranteed payments for excess electricity they can supply to the grid.

It could also reduce strain on energy networks with a more decentralised and smarter local network delivering resilience much more cost effectively, unlocking innovative products for electric vehicles and home energy storage; a win-win for consumers and the environment and a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

The proposals, being consulted on from today, combined with existing technologies like smart meters and battery storage could also help build a bridge to smarter more efficient energy systems of the future, with the potential to work together with electric vehicle and standalone batteries to store and sell electricity to the grid when demand is high; in turn cutting consumer bills, reducing strain on energy networks, and giving consumers more control of their energy use.

Government investment in clean energy is at the heart of its world-leading modern industrial strategy, with the Clean Growth Strategy pledging more than £2.5 billion investment in low carbon innovation by 2021. The FIT scheme, which closes to new applicants on 31 March 2019, has overachieved on its original objectives, outstripping installation predictions by nearly 100,000 with over 830,000 solar installations producing enough power for two million homes.

Some 560,000 households and business are currently generating electricity under the FIT scheme through a range of measures including anaerobic digestion (generating energy from waste products), wind power, biomass and hydro-electricity- but with the majority (99%) using solar panels fitted to rooftops.

1. 99% of installations accredited under the FIT scheme are solar, or 80% capacity. By capacity: wind is 12%, hydro is 3%, AD is 5% and mCHP is 0.01%
2. The cost of solar cells has dropped by 80% since 2008
3. Home smart systems have already evolved to the point where consumers will now be able to use smart meters to know exactly how much electricity they are selling back to the grid.
4. A third of the UK’s electricity came from renewables in 2018 as overall power generation fell to its lowest levels since 1994, as energy efficiency improves.
5. Wind accounted for 17% of the total power generated last year, while solar contributed 4% and burning plant material or biomass for electricity produced 11%.
6. Respond to the consultation: The future for small-scale low-carbon generation.

Dhonsi was sentenced to 38 months imprisonment, Mirza to 18 months imprisonment, and Ali to 9 months imprisonment for their roles in the crimes.

Following a complex investigation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) seized more than 300,000 tablets, worth in excess of £315,000. It is believed these tablets seized represent a fraction of the overall illegal operation.

The trio were convicted of conspiracy to supply unauthorised medicines, including diazepam, zolpidem and zopiclone which are also controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, together with other powerful prescription-only medicines.

The supply of medicines from sources outside the regulated supply chain represents a significant public health risk and the criminal group responsible showed a complete disregard for the public’s safety and well-being.

The medicines the group were supplying can have serious side effects; for example, finasteride, which is used to treat hair loss, can lead to foetal abnormalities and sibutramine, which is used as an appetite suppressant was banned in 2010 because of the health risks associated with its use which include cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.

Alastair Jeffrey, MHRA Head of Enforcement said:

Medicines purchased outside the regulated supply chain cannot be guaranteed to meet standards of quality, safety and effectiveness and can present a real risk to public health. Some may contain dangerous ingredients which can have devastating consequences for patients who use them.

We work to identify those involved in illegal activities with medicines and will use our powers to investigate fully, confiscate assets and, where necessary, prosecute those putting profit before public health.

Criminals selling medicines illegally have a flagrant disregard for your health, and only care about making money. Contact a GP or a healthcare professional if you have any concerns about your health.

Visit http://www.gov.uk/fakemeds for tips on buying medicines safely online and how to avoid unscrupulous sites.